Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-06-23
THE POLAR BEAR.


The polar bear Is not perfectly white
in co!or; but of faint yellowish tint.
The bear is sometimes very neariy
white IN Grinnell Land, but never per.
fectly so. At the end of long wint.,
VIC killed bear at Sabine, which bore
wellmarked yellowish spots.
The size of this animal has been very
much exaggerated. l have no doub,
that most of you and the larger part oil
the werld believe in the stories which
|'were told by Bhering upon his return
from the arctic regions, concerning the
remarkable size and ferociiy of polar
bears. They have been very
greatly exaggerated. The animal
here before US is about nine fee,
long and four and a half feet high a,
the shoulder-blades. and is a good rep
resentative of the largest of these ami.
mals-indeed. is as large as any saw
or ever heard of. while in the arctic re.
gions. Several of my party obtained
specimens Of the polar bear from the
same region quite similar to the xpeci.
men before Us.
The weight of a polar bear of about
the size l mentioned. is. in the summer
and fall, about sixteen hundred pounds.
OF course it depends largely upon the
season when caught. One weighing
sixteen hundred pounds in the fall
would in the spring weigh about eleven
or twelve hundred pounds.
In connection with the polar bear
we find one Of the provisions which
nature has made for the Arctic animals.
namely. the ability to subsist during
the long polar winter upon the fat
which has accumulated in their bodies
during the summer months. This fat
is generally in layers; that is, there is a
layer of fat and one of lean, at least
among the greater number of animals;
but in one specimen which we killed,
the fat. instead of being in layers. was
distributed as a network over the
body.
The polar bear is generally supposed
to be a ferocious animal. He is, on the
contrary, the most cowardly of all the
bear family, and can not stand COM
parison as regards pluck with the
black. cinnamon and other bears of the
United States and other places. He is
at the extreme end of the scale of cour-
age. The polar bear never, or very
rarely. faces man, or goes near him,
unless he is able to take him at dis
advantage. An engineer in German
Arctic expedition was seized by 4 bear
which carried him some distance: but
this occurred at night and the engineer
was unprepared for the attack. Oc-
casionally these bears creep up to their
prey and kill it at single blow.
The food of the bear consists very
largely of seals. The seal spends the
larger portion, drobably nine-tenths,
OF its time in sleeping on the ice. The
bear will then steal up near it. when
being disturbed by the creaking on the
ice. it awakes; but after few seconds
again goes to sleep. This is the bears
opportunity. He moves nearer and
nearer, and then with a sudden spring
seiZes the seal.
The polar bear. although large, and
clumsy in its gait, is very active. and
the strength in its forefeet is some
thing marvellous.
In the region of the Arctic circle
where l served. the bear is the largest
of the land animals.
The polar bear passes over the ice
with surprising swiftness; and he may
be said to be equally at home on the
ice. on the land and in the water. A
bear was seen from the masthead, in
the middle of strait forty miles wide,
when no ice could be discovered.
In regard to their amusements. for it
really seems at times from their ac-
tiOns that they do amuse themselves,
they seem to be fond of an exercise
that has become very fashionable with
in the last year in American circles,
1. e.. ''tobogganing." or sliding down
hill." as it was called in my my early
days. The bears seem to like nothing
better than occasionally to slide down
a large snow-drift. Why or wherefore
no one knows.
The meat Of the bear is not as gem
eral thing disagrecable to the taste 1t |
is like that of the brown bear In the
spring or summer, after the bear has |
fed on fish and seal. the meat is rather
strong. One portion of the bear. how
ever. the Esquimau does not think is fit
to eat. and that is the liver, which. it |
is said. causes all to become sick. And |
have good reason to think this asser-
ton true. do not, however. state it |
as fact, but as what is said by the
Esquimau and others. General 4. w.
Greeley. tn Chautdnqman.
Human Sacrifice in India.